This is the first book of the series that I have read and it works great as a stand alone novel.

Tsuruhime is the shogun's daughter and she has succumbed to smallpox. The mystery is whether she died of natural causes or was murdered. She was the only person who could have produced an heir for the shogun. After her death the shogun is told that he has a son named Yoshisato from a concubine that he never knew about. Sano Ichiro is tasked with finding out who killed Tsuruhime and gets caught up in the politics of feudal Japan in the 1700s.

I enjoyed this novel immensely. I have never read any historical mysteries set in Japan and learned a lot about life in this place and era. In the beginning i had some trouble getting used to the Japanese names and expected it to be a long read. Since the dialogue was modern the read went pretty fast. It seemed, however, that most of the plot was about political intrigue instead of the solving of a crime. The political intrigue, while fascinating, made the book seem longer than it needed to be.

All in all this was a great book and I look forward to reading the entire series. ( )

My thoughts:
• Enjoyed the story and I am enjoying the series – while I have not read all of the books I have read the last couple of books so am up to date
• I like the character development and the characters of Sano and his family
• Good pacing, political intrigue, Japanese history keeps me reading
• I will say that there were a couple of actions at the end of the story that were a little off the believable radar but I let it go as it advanced the storyline and showed the bond of the family ( )

Having read a majority of the books in this series I was very excited to receive a copy of this book from the Library Thing Early Reviewers program. In most cases when I read a Laura Joh Rowland novel, I generally will finish reading it in less than a week. In this case it took several months. I had a very hard time getting into the story. To me the action was too drawn out and I found the Hirata mystical story line distracting. In past books I enjoyed the characters' actions and interactions with one another. Granted there have been times when words that were not accurate to the time period were used but this usually did not distract me as much as it did this time. The ending of the book leads me to believe that if another book is written it will include even more of the mystical aspect of the story line between Hirata and Genral Otani. Since this is the part of the story that I enjoyed the least I am very hesitant if another book is in my future. I am sad to say this because I have really enjoyed this series up to this point. ( )

I was really looking forward to reading this book. The cover is so pretty and the synopsis drew me in. So I was really excited to learn I’d won a copy through Library Thing ER. The story was interesting, but it took me a very long time to get into the story. This was the first time I’d ever read anything from this era, and I hadn’t realized this was part of a series...the 17th book! Because this was new to me, there were many characters and many had similar names. I think if I’d read at least a few of the previous books, I would have been able to dive right into the story.

Once I DID get involved in the story, it was very interesting. The Shogun’s daughter dies of smallpox before she could present him with an heir. When Sano learns it is possible she was intentionally infected, he resolves to determine the truth. This despite the fact that the govenment is in turmoil and he is no longer a favored advisor. He suspects that his rival, who has displaced him as the Shogun’s current favored advisor. When another death occurs under suspicious circumstances, Sana himself is suspected of murder. Back in these times, the family of the guilty were punished as if they also committed a crime, so Sano’s entire family is at risk. It is imperative that he find ‘the real killer’! Once I got past trying to pronounce every name and learned who the characters were, this novel moved at a good pace. I really did enjoy it and am glad I read it. I just didn’t like it enough to go back and read the first sixteen books. My one disappointment in the book was the ending, which really wasn’t an ending. The murders were solved and we learned who the killer is, but it is obvious that there will be further conflict between Sano and his rival, Yanagisawa. The book screams for a sequel! ( )

Sequal???? I really enjoyed the mystery and suspence of the story. Even the characters were sufficiently creepy when they needed to be, but the ending....I'm upset with all the unanswered questions!!! Please let there be another book that will put my mind at ease! ( )